Psychologist, Irish Times columnist and Feasta member John Sharry will be speaking on the topic “Hope in the Face of Disaster – Creating a sustainable, viable, future path for civilisation” at Social Justice Ireland’s Social Policy Conference on Tuesday November 29th. Other speakers will include István P. Székely of the European Commission and Anton Hemerijck of the VU University, Amsterdam. More information…

Emer O'Siochru will be speaking on the first day of this conference from July 24-28 at the School of Economic Science, 11 Mandeville Place, London W1U 3AJ. It will explore a wide range of topics relating to Land Value Tax and global economic justice. More information here.

An introduction to Resilience and Permaculture.
Tuesday 12 February 2013 | 19.30 - 21.30 | Central Hotel, Exchequer St | €10 Pay Now / Free to Cultivate Members
A presentation and facilitated discussion hosted by Davie Philip of Cultivate and Cloughjordan Ecovillage. This evening session will explore how we strengthen our communities to be more healthy and sustainable backed by local economies that are stronger and more resilient.

A talk by David Korowicz to be given at The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Newcastle/ Gateshead, UK on Fri 21 Dec 2012 at 13:30 as part of The Festival of the Apocalypse developed by artists Walker & Bromwich.

Organised by Cultivate, in association with Village Education Research and Training (VERT) and Cloughjordan Community Farm. Feasta tutors include Bruce Darrell and Ciaran Mulloy.
This will be a unique opportunity to learn invaluable design and practical skills embedded in an active ecovillage and vibrant community.

Schumacher Ireland Summer School Exploring the transition to a sustainable society on the island of IrelandSchumacher College is organising its first Summer School in Ireland from 11th to 15th June 2012, in conjunction with Queen's University Belfast. Feasta members Jonathan Dawson and Peadar Kirby will be among the course teachers. [...]

Two public lectures hosted by the Carbon Cycles and Sinks Network and Gorta. The first lecture, "Organic farming's role in improving food security and combatting climate change", features Gundala Azeez as the speaker. The second, "Biochar's role in increasing fertility and reducing fertiliser use", will be presented by Dr. Witold Kwapinski and David Friese-Greene.

In this talk ecological economist Brian Davey, member of Feasta, demonstrated how many problems can be traced back to the mismanagement of common resources and argue for a new politics for the commons. What can be done given that rentier interests are so influential behind the scenes in the political system?

Can we find a new form of management, propertising without privatising, and managing the commons in the interests of all?

An evening of presentations and discussion, chaired by Molly Walsh of Friends of the Earth.

The international effort to prevent catastrophic climate change has concentrated on carbon dioxide reductions and other possible part-solutions such as reducing black carbon have been ignored. Richard Douthwaite of Feasta presented the case for a more diversified approach to the climate crisis and, in a second presentation, Corinna Byrne of the Carbon Cycles and Sinks Network set out ways in which changes in the way the land is used can remove some of the carbon already in the air.…

Current Projects

News Digest

Feasta’s Mark Garavan suggests in an article in his blog that QE should be used only to buy new Solidarity Bonds issued by the European Investment Bank and European Investment Fund which then should only be used to invest in developing new Green economic activities and Green research. He goes on to suggest that the distribution mechanism should be the nation states but also, if not primarily, new regional co-operatives which co-ordinate local investment programmes in Green energy, food and social network provision.…

The UK House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee has just come out with a report on the environmental risks of fracking which makes it clear that committee members, who represent a cross-section of the British political parties, have serious doubts about the safety of fracking.

Project Feeds

Extract from a seminal report. Find it here http://www.scholarsstrategynetwork.org/content/politics-americas-fight-against-global-warming-0 NAMING THE PROBLEM What It Will Take to Counter Extremism and Engage Americans in the Fight against Global Warming by Theda Scokpol Political Scientist, Harvard, US : ” Politically speaking, the cap and dividend route has a number of advantages. Instead of building political support by […]

The Constitution does not reflect contemporary knowledge of the importance and role of the environment as the basis of enduring social and economic wellbeing. It most serious flaw and oversight is that it permits the alienation of the Nation’s natural resources by the current generation of the people of Ireland by actions of the organs of the State against the interest of the common good of generations to come of the people of Ireland.

With the aim of sharing information and resources on designed currencies, Feasta started a Facebook group in 2012 at https://www.facebook.com/groups/designercurrencies. The group has around 140 members worldwide and would be happy to have more.

Recent Comments

Fleeing Vesuvius comments

this article is from a marvelous book that addresses the kind of world we are likely to transition to in the next 1-3 generations. better yet, it addresses practical considerations for trying to maintain our civility in the face of a more hostile clima...

Recent forum posts

Michael Layden and Emer O'Siochru had a discussion about the Irish Department of Agriculture's recent document "Food Harvest 2020" - described by Michael as 'surreal' - which you can read here.

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Events

This online panel discussion, to be held on Friday November 28, is designed to explore new forms of education, intergenerational education and other emerging issues affecting healthcare and education. Four innovative thinkers - Dave Cormier, Allenna Leonard, John Walker and David Somekh - will be on the discussion panel, and Feasta trustee Seán Conlan will facilitate.

This meeting will take place on November 1st at 14:00, at the Teacher's Club in Parnell Square, Dublin. Topics covered will include " Sustainable Energy and Potential Adverse Health Effects", "Water fluoridation’s association with asthma", "Electromagnetic Radiation and Smart Meters" and "The Ecosystems Approach to Environmental Problems".

Feasta’s Graham Barnes has been asked to present and do a panel session at Open Here in Dublin, on November 14th. Open Here is “a 3-day international festival and conference where online practices such as sharing, peer-production and open source meet real world material economies.” More information is available at http://openhere.data.ie/.…

Richard Douthwaite, co-founder of Feasta and much-loved colleague and friend, died on November 14th 2011 after a long illness. We will miss his unique and far-ranging intellect, the clarity of his thought and writing, his warmth and his laughter. Tributes to him have come in from around the world and you can read them here.

Sharing for Survival comments

I came across your reference in Occupy Education by Tina Evans. I also read the Transition Towns e-letter. The move to protect resources by strengthening the indigenous communities is a powerful argument. However, the corporeate/ capital interests in Africa (the newest frontier --again) and the "war on terror" excuse to be a presense seem overwhelming forces to be fighting. I do believe the life boat analogy is an excellent one--being ready until the behemoth collapses under its own weight.

Blimey James - Sorry to continue the correspondence and please end it if you feel so, but this is important. Life is variable as the quality and quantity of the dust which revives it. The mineralsation of complex proteins into the simple elements required for plant growth is a function of a complexity of life. The whole art of husbandry is regulation of the speed of that process. Return too much fertility to a field and we increase crop yield by diminishing that of a neighbouring field.

Patrick
Not really. It's called entropy. The process that reduces complex life to dust. It happens all the time, not just by fire or pyrolysis. 'The total mass of bio' is not constant, it continually increases and decreases. By growing biomass in desert sand entropy is reversed.
James

Thanks James - Sequestration & carbon sumps are bees in my bonnet. I'll try to keep my bees under control - they are confrontational in that they oppose some central first principles of the IPCC, Zero Carbon Britain 2030 and most university departments! A little geezer becomes passionate in proportion to the mass of his opposition.

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